Boleat – CBI survey shows jobs are on the line if transition is not negotiated quickly

Boleat – CBI survey shows jobs are on the line if transition is not negotiated quickly

Post published: November 05, 2017

60% of UK firms will trigger their Brexit contingency plans by March 2018 if no transitional arrangement has been negotiated by then, a survey by the CBI finds today (Sunday).

It also found that 10% of firms have already passed the deadline at which they needed to begin implementing contingency plans.

Commenting, Sir Mark Boleat, leading supporter of Open Britain and former Chairman of the City of London Corporation, said:

“Businesses across the country are becoming increasingly worried about the lack of progress in the Brexit talks, and the consequences of a hard and destructive Brexit that significantly reduces our access to the world’s largest market on our doorstep.

“It’s clear that if meaningful progress is not made soon, firms will put their contingency plans into action and begin moving jobs and investment abroad. Indeed some are already doing so. This is not a theoretical risk. Jobs are on the line now.

“It is vital that, at the very least, Ministers negotiate a transition deal that retains the status quo for as long as necessary after Brexit. And they should put permanent membership of the Single Market and Customs Union – the best single option for our economy – back on the table in the talks.”